Second plane crash in Russia in less than month, one woman killed

By IBT Staff Reporter On 01/01/11 AT 3:23 PM

At least one woman has reportedly died and another thirty-four people received severe injuries after an explosion on a Russian passenger jet on Saturday. Flames broke out in Tu-154M passenger jet and it was forced to make an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Surgut, Officials maintained that the engine exploded after takeoff.

Meanwhile, four of the injured including a child are in critical conditions, the authorities confirmed. A total of 116 passengers and eight crew members were on board the plane en-route to Moscow's Domodedovo Airport. Russian Transport minister Igor Levitin announced that a commission has been set up to determine the cause of the accident.

This is the second such incident in less than a month in Russia. In early December, two people were killed and 40 others were injured when a passenger plane skidded off the runway during an emergency landing. The aircraft of the Dagestan Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing after all the three of its engines failed. The aircraft was en route to Makhachkala city in the South of the country from Moscow's Vnukovo airport. The Russian-built aircraft TU-154 had 150 passengers on board when the mishap occurred.